By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          The rumors started over the weekend and picked up steam online as the week went on, that Judd Anderson was transferring from Jones County to Warner Robins this week.

          Without making it official, Anderson made it somewhat official Wednesday when he changed his Twitter bio from being at Jones County to being at Warner Robins.

          Earlier Wednesday, Jones County adjusted a social media graphic it uses for general items, like schedule updates, that has pictures of nine players to now include only eight, with Anderson deleted.

          As per GHSA spokesperson Steve Figueroa, Anderson becomes eligible as soon as the GHSA receives and approves the paperwork, so long as “there was a bona fide move” and no undue influence has been determined to have been exerted.

          There is no rule against a player participating for multiple schools during a season or year.

          Both Warner Robins head coach Shane Sams and principal Chris McCook confirmed the move Thursday to The Sports Report.

          Anderson arrived at Warner Robins on Monday and started practicing on Tuesday, although it’s highly unlikely he’ll see any action Friday night when the Demons take on rival Northside, with basically only two real practices in his third system in three years.

          And there won’t be a splitting of the quarterback snaps.

          Incumbent Chase Reese got the job last August under first-year offensive coordinator Kevious Johnson, hired by then-head coach Marquis Westbrook, to replace Jeremy Edwards, who took over at Houston County.

          Isiah Canion entered last year’s camp as No. 1, but was moved to receiver.

          Reese lost nothing during an early-season change in coaching and the offense amid a 1-3 start, and led the Demons to five straight wins before suffering a season-ending ACL injury in the first-round playoff win over Jenkins.

          He was 28 of 40 for 287 yards in the Demons’ 26-19 loss at Class 6A power Lee County.

          “Like I’ve told everybody, Chase is our quarterback and that’s who we’re going with,” Sams said. “We’ll move forward that way.”

          The impact will continue after football. Anderson is a 6-6 wing basketball player who averaged 9.8 points and 3.5 rebounds last year for the 19-13 Greyhounds, after getting 19.1 points and 16.2 rebounds as a sophomore at Ridgeland.

          It’s a surprising and notable move for a variety of reasons, starting with the timing.

          For one, in-season transfers are rare, and transfers so early in the season moreso, as well as playing in one place on Friday and enrolling somewhere else on Monday.

          Anderson,who committed to Miami in April, played in all 11 games last year at Jones County after transferring from Ridgeland, a Class AAA program right on the state line as part of the Chattanooga metro area.

          Jones County went to something of a two-quarterback system last season with then-sophomore Devin Edmonds during the Greyhounds’ 35-3 loss at Peach County, a game in which Anderson completed eight of 16 passes for 34 yards, with three interceptions and no touchdowns. Edmonds was 8 of 12 for 64 yards with an interception.

          After throwing 24 passes in a 62-0 win over Locust Grove, he was 18 for 41 in the next three games against Eagle’s Landing, Ola, and Dutchtown, with only four attempts against Eagle’s Landing.

          In the final three games, Anderson was 59 for 100 for 718 yards, with six touchdowns and six interceptions. The Greyhounds went 1-2 in that stretch, which included a 54-30 loss to Warner Robins and a 55-13 first-round playoff loss to eventual 5A champ Ware County.

          Anderson was 10 of 15 for 175 yards with four touchdowns and an interception in a 44-19 romp of Dacula last week, adding two touchdowns on four carries. Edmonds was 3 of 8 for 33 yards.

          They combined to go 10 of 20 (each 5 of 10) for 157 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions in the season-opening loss to Northside in the Macon Touchdown Club Middle Georgia Kickoff Classic.

          Anderson is 159 of 280 (56.8 percent) for 2,022 yards with 19 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in 13 games at Jones County, while Edmonds is 46 for 82 for 592 yards in fewer games covering the same span, with three touchdowns and five interceptions.

          It makes for a potentially tenuous situation for first-year Warner Robins head coach and alum Sams.

          The Demons got off to a weak start on offense in 2022, and Johnson was replaced as play-caller by tight ends coach Caleb Daffron after four games, three losses, and 24 points.

          Warner Robins was 6-4 when Reese went out. On came Canion, having a big season at receiver, at quarterback despite not having thrown a pass since the 28-8 loss to Houston County in late September, the first game after the coaching change.

          He impressively led the Demons to the 5A title game, which Warner Robins lost to Cartersville 35-10.

          Reese was returning, but most of the coaching staff wasn’t, Westbrook and some assistants moving to Peach County. On came Demon grad Sams, similar in general philosophy offensively as to what Warner Robins had been winning with.

          The new staff worked with a rehabbing Reese – whose recovery was ahead of schedule - and the offensive tweaks, while Canion returned to receiver, where he had started getting getting major-college offers.

          It would appear that the Demons don’t need any more quarterbacks, ACC commitments or not.

          Anderson is considered a three-star prospect, and Reese, a 6-3, 185-pounder, isn’t drawing much public attention. But he’s starting for a second straight year on a team that is eyeing its seventh straight state championship trip, and Anderson was battling a fairly inexperienced junior at Jones County.

          The timing could be a distraction for Warner Robins, with bitter rival Northside this week and the potential for disruption among players and perhaps a portion of the fan base.

          “Obviously my phone has blown up and my text messages have blown up,” said Sams, a 2007 Warner Robins graduate. “I tell ‘em all the same thing. When you come into this program, I don’t care about your accolades, I really could care less about what you got. You’re gonna prove you can work. You’re going to prove yourself.”

          Focusing on Northside, of course, drowns out all other noise amid a mighty noisy week on a quiet year.